Bed Bath & Beyond is closing 200 stores as quarterly sales tumble nearly 50%

• Bed Bath & Beyond plans to shutter about 200 stores over the next two years.
• On July 8, the company published an investor relations presentation that revealed Bed Bath & Beyond intends to “lean into store closures” and “leverage significant lease expirations coming due.”
• The Bed Bath & Beyond has floundered in recent years, thanks to the coronavirus pandemic and previous leadership spats and financial struggles.
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Bed Bath & Beyond is looking to shut down about 200 “redundant” stores over the next two years.

The company announced the closures in its first-quarter investor-relations presentation. The slide deck said the closures would “mostly” affect Bed Bath & Beyond. The company also owns retail chains like Buy Buy Baby and Cost Plus Inc.

Going forward, Bed Bath & Beyond will “lean into store closures” and “leverage significant lease expirations coming due” in an effort to turn things around, according to the presentation. The company has also cut “expenses associated with the maintenance of stores.”

The majority of Bed Bath & Beyond store associates and certain corporate employees are furloughed because of the pandemic.

The pandemic hit Bed Bath & Beyond hard, prompting the retailer to temporarily close all of its stores on March 23. The company suffered a net loss of $302.29 million in the first quarter, down from $371.09 million a year ago. Sales plunged 49%, sinking from $1.31 billion from $2.57 billion in 2019.

In an earnings call with analysts, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer Gustavo Arnal said the drop in sales occurred "primarily due to the temporary store closures." Most of Bed Bath & Beyond's stores have since reopened.

But Bed Bath & Beyond's struggles date back to beyond the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, as it has faced declining sales. Former Target Chief Marketing Officer Mark Tritton took on the role of CEO in November, several months after a group of activist investors pushed for the ouster of CEO Steven Temares. The retailer announced its plans to close 44 stores across eight states earlier this year.